Chapter 4 Shloka 9

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वत:।

त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन।।९।।

O Arjuna! He who knows thus

My divine birth and actions,

is not reborn after leaving the body;

he attains Me.

Chapter 4 Shloka 9

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वत:।

त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन।।९।।

O Arjuna! He who knows thus My divine birth and actions, is not reborn after leaving the body; he attains Me.

The Lord says:

1. A person who knows My divine birth;

2. A person who understands the mystery of the One established in the Truth thus embodying Himself;

3. He who understands the purpose of My birth and My deeds;

4. Who knows that the life of an Atmavaan is the living example of Truth;

5. Who perceives the secret of incomparable perfection in an utterly simple life;

6. He who understands My complete identification even with the ignorant and who knows that I do not confuse them with mere rhetoric, instead, living like them at their level, I show them the path of Truth;

7. He who knows that I am not a ‘doer’ despite My performing all actions;

8. He who knows that I am not the ‘partaker’ despite partaking of all objects;

9. He who knows that I am devoid of form despite My earthly manifestation;

Such a one who knows My Essence thus, is never reborn after leaving the body. He renounces the body and thus attaining the state of an Atmavaan, he attains Me.

The meaning of ‘renouncing the body’

1. The Lord is not alluding to death as such.

2. He is talking about the eradication of identification with the body.

3. When one renounces the intellect that furnishes all the body’s desires, it is tantamount to renunciation of identification with the body. Then it will not even matter to such a one whether the body lives or dies.

4. When the ‘I’ identifies with the Atma, you become an Atmavaan, you are no longer the body.

5. Then you will no longer consider the body’s birth or death to be your birth or death.

6. Others may refer to the body as yours and it will function naturally in accordance with the circumstances, but there will be no consciousness of its individuality.

Little one! The Atmavaan abides in an ordinary body which is subject to nature’s laws just as all other bodies are.

a) His body suffers pain and affliction.

b) It is bound by the same norms and influenced by the same objects of the material world.

c) The Atmavaan, too, has to contend with the same problems as do others.

d) His body is ever involved in mundane tasks.

Yet:

1. He is not attached with any of the circumstances with which he is beset.

2. He seeks nothing from any situation or person for personal benefit.

3. He is devoid of selfishness; he is completely indifferent towards his own self.

4. One could say that he is ‘asleep’ towards his own body. He is awake only towards the needs of the world.

5. Such a one is neither born, nor dies. He is united with the Atma. In fact, Lord Krishna quite explicitly states that such a one is Bhagwan Himself.